The recent defacement of the website of central bureau of investigation (CBI), India has once again shown the weakness of cyber security of Indian government websites. To further embarrass the situation, the website of CBI is still not operational.However, besides the weak cyber security, India is also suffering from grossly deficient cyber law and inadequate cyber forensics capabilities. There are many reasons why Indian cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics failed. But the prime reason for the failure of cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics in India is lack of interest of Indian government and Parliament of India. It seems India has turned a blind eye towards these crucial issues.
Further, industrial lobbying has been weakening Indian economy and Indian national, internal and external security. Even the policy issues of cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics have been greatly influenced by industrial lobbying to the detriment of national interest of India.
According to Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of techno legal ICT Law Firm Perry4Law and Supreme Court Lawyer, India is not very sensitive towards cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics requirements. The IT Act 2000 is a poorly drafted law and badly implemented legislation. It is weak and ineffective in dealing with growing Cyber Crimes in India as it is the most “Soft and Cyber Criminal Friendly Legislation” of the World. There is an urgent need to “Amend” the present Cyber Law of India and make it Robust, Effective and Stringent, suggests Praveen Dalal.
So why is there a gloomy picture of cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics issues in India? This is because there is a lack of adequate research and training in these crucial fields. Barring few exceptional training institution, India is not good at training of its manpower in field like cyber law, cyber security and cyber forensics. Further, there is just a single techno legal cyber security research, training and educational centre in India (CSRTCI) managed by Perry4Law Techno Legal Base (PTLB).
Absence of skilled manpower leaves India vulnerable to cyber attacks including cyber terrorism, cyber warfare, cyber espionage, etc. The fact is that we are not at all prepared to tackle issues like cyber terrorism and information warfare.
The threats of cyber terrorism in India are increasing and India is not prepared to deal with the same. We are also not serious about information warfare against India. Even the critical ICT infrastructure protection in India needs special attention.
It is high time for India to consider these issues as soon as possible and come up with a good and effective cyber security policy in India.
